Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Election/Restrictions
Claim 8 is withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected Invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on August 21, 2026.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-3 and 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Line et al. (US 2020/0331366 A1), hereinafter Line.
Regarding claim 1, Line discloses a vehicle seat device that includes a rotation mechanism that has a rotating member (second bracket 154, fig. 10) having mounted thereon a seat cushion frame supporting a seat cushion (see seat 60 in fig. 11) and a base member (rotation assembly 170, fig. 7) rotatably supporting the rotating member from below (as disclosed in at least para. [0054], and fig. 7),
wherein at least part, along a peripheral direction, of an outer periphery of an upper part of the rotating member is covered by a cover from the outside (as shown in annotated figs. 1 & 2),
wherein the seat cushion frame has a pair of side frames that are disposed so as to extend linearly in the fore-and-aft direction at positions spaced from each other in the left-and-right direction (see base member 42 disposed on each side in fig. 4), and a rear pipe that provides a link between rear end parts of the pair of side frames (as shown in annotated fig. 2 and figs. 4-7), and
wherein the rear end of the cover is located behind the front end of the rear pipe, and forward of the rear end of the seat cushion (as shown in annotated fig. 1 below).
[AltContent: textbox ([img-media_image1.png])][AltContent: textbox ([img-media_image2.png])]
[AltContent: textbox (Annotated fig. 1: annotated image of Line’s fig. 4)][AltContent: textbox (Annotated fig. 2: annotated image of Line’s fig. 4)]
Regarding claim 2, Line discloses the invention in claim 1, and further discloses wherein the cover includes an upper plate having a flat-plate shape and a plate portion extending downward from an end of the upper plate oppose to the rotating member (as shown in annotated fig. 3 below).
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Annotated fig. 3: annotated image of Line’s fig. 9
Regarding claim 3, Line discloses the invention in claim 1, and further discloses wherein the cover includes an upper plate having a flat-plate shape and a pair of end walls extending downwards from both lateral ends of the upper plate (as shown in annotated fig. 4 below).
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Annotated fig. 4: annotated image of Line’s fig. 9
Regarding claim 6, Line discloses the invention in claim 1, and further discloses wherein an outside face of the cover is formed into an arc shape that protrudes toward the outside of the rotating member (as shown in annotated figs. 3 & 4 above).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Line as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Slivik (US 3,093,415 A).
Regarding claim 7, Line discloses the invention in claim 1, but does not appear to specifically disclose wherein a lower end position of a side cover covering the side frame from the outside is set at the same height as a lower end position of the cover.
However, Slivik is in the field of a vehicle seat (Abstract) and teaches a side cover covering the side frame from the outside (Col. 2, lines 18-22, “[t]he seat portion 14 is mounted within a receiving well defined by a contoured member 16 that envelops the lower portion of the seat and serves as an attractive cover for the frame portion of the seat”; as shown in figs. 1 & 2).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Line such that there was a side cover as taught by Slivik, in order to serve as an attractive cover for the frame portion of the seat (Slivik: Col. 2, lines 18-22).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-5 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to Applicant’s disclosure: See PTO 892.
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/N.A./Examiner, Art Unit 3647 /JOSHUA J MICHENER/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3642
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